Octavia II vRS PD170 - new ECU?

[vRS Kev]

Hi there,

MkII (56 plate) vRS PD170

Right, Saturday I was driving back from Cambridge, about 5miles from home the glow-plug/coil light started flashing, no power, pulled into layby and soon as I stopped the engine died - waited a couple of minutes and car started fine and drove OK back to girlfriends.

Sunday I went out, car wouldn't start at all - there was good battery/crank but the engine wouldn't catch at all - called out recovery service, he plugged a booster pack on just in case, and tried squirting stuff into the intake, same problem.

Recovered it to my local garage, they've had the engine-cover off to get at the injectors and take a look at it, and the problem is diesel isn't getting to the injectors - in fact no power at all is getting to the injectors. He's traced the wiring as much as he can and can't see any breaks/shorts in the wiring, and his thought is that the ECU is under the windscreen, and water has got in and damaged it - his feeling is that it needs to go to a VW dealer for a new ECU etc.

Just wondered if this was a common problem, and how much it was likely to cost - I've got AA Warranty which covers the ECU but I think there's a £500 limit per-claim (something I didn't realise at the time I got it) - car's been serviced to schedule and was owned by VW Finance Services before me - last service was done about 1000 miles ago and included new cambelt. Trying to get hold of warranty company at the moment to arrange for it to go in, but their call centre is closed due to the snow.

Cheers

Kevin

[The Skud]

ECU's are sealed so likelyhood of water getting in is remote, get someone with VCDS to plug in and check it properly

[dstev2000]

The PD140 is susceptible to faulty injector wiring looms, these run through the cylinder head and supply the power from the ECU to each injector unit, the only solution is a new wiring loom.

Not sure if the PD170 has the same weakness but seeing as the design is fundamentally the same as the PD140 there is a chance, being a 56 plate means its a early engine too.

SWMBO's previous '07 vRS TDI point blank refused to start one morning (no other symptoms prior) and it was recovered to my local Skoda dealer who diagnosed a faulty drive CAN interface. It cranked over time and time again but just wouldn't catch.

IIRC the injector wiring loom arrives at a round plug on the battery side of the engine block, might be worth checking to see if it is ok.

[prolfe]

My PD170 A3 had water ingression in the wiring loom of the ECU.

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